On Sunday, my friend Ryan and I drove up to The Ottobar to see Ted Leo and the Pharmacists play with Titus Andronicus. This is the review of the opener from that show along with the Titus Andronicus album! Tomorrow, I'll review Ted himself and put up my favorite Pharmacists album!
Titus Andronicus At The Ottobar (Pitchfork style, I guess, because none of this review really makes sense)
live picture from their myspace, to give you an idea of what they were lookin' likeSunday morning, I woke up at 1 in the afternoon and saw a few texts from Ryan sitting, unread on my phone. "Yo dude, bonarroo is a no go, still up for ted leo tonight?" from 10 that morning. "Dude are you up?" from noon. Sweet. I talk to Ryan and we plan out the trip; I buy the tickets and we're good to go. At about 7:45, we're on the road, with Hearts Of Oak blasting as we roll up I-95. Conversation turns to beach plans, summer vacation, and how likely we are to do some Mardi Gras business next year (Ryan goes to Tulane, down in New Orleans).
We arrive at the Ottobar around 8:30, in time to catch the last song from Sleeper Agent. Dude looks like he's having a heart attack on stage. I give him props for that. There's about 15 people in there and one of them is Andy, Guest-Reviewer Brooks' brother. So Ryan and I talk to Andy for a while before moving up for Titus Andronicus' set. I had seen Titus twice before this show, so I knew what I was getting into, Andy had seen them a couple times as well. Ryan, however, had no idea what was slowly lurching onto the stage.
Lead singer Patrick Stickles has a beard that encompasses his face, he's wearing sweatpants, and a Ponytail t-shirt. "This is, like, our fifth time playing The Ottobar this year. We just can't keep ourselves away," he quietly speaks into the microphone before pulling out a harmonica and going directly into "Joset Of Nazareth's Blues." Yeah, dude. Then he starts yelling nearly incoherently through the song while playing guitar. It sounds just like the record! They blaze through almost all of the "hits" from their debut, The Airing Of Grievances (there's really only, like, nine songs on the cd, so playing through all of the songs except for the two slow ones is pretty much like playing the hits), including "The Enemy Is Everywhere," which I've never heard a recorded version of, but I've seen them play it every time I've seen them. They also play a new song as well as a Cock Sparrer cover. I think every single mic stand on stage fell over at least twice during the set because of their, as Ryan put it, "epileptic spazzes" while playing. So fucking awesome.
Ryan pokes me and asks how the drummer manages to do what seems to be a fairly simple sounding beat, but makes it so ridiculously intricate, playing 16th notes back and forth on different drumheads and cymbals for what must be sport. The rhythm section for Titus Andronicus... which I guess is pretty much the entire band, is so tight and spot on. They sound like they should be sloppy, they look like they should be sloppy, but everything is perfectly in time and everything has more energy than most bands today. Again, awesome.
They end on the first track of the record, probably my favorite song from the whole thing, "Fear And Loathing In Mahwah, NJ." Stickles lightly strums the guitar, singing as clearly as he has for the entire night (odd, since on the record, the first half of the song is utterly incoherent), before stopping and stepping away from the microphone. The entire band looks up and after what seems like 10 full seconds, each member chimes in: "FUCK YOU." Suddenly the song is in double time, there are tapping guitar solos, and they play through until all of the effects are on all of the guitars and then they leave the stage with just echoes permeating through the amplifiers.
Ryan looks at me and I'm afraid of what he's going to say, because this is not his type of music. "They were actually really good, you gotta hit me up with this cd!" Here you go, homeboy.
Titus Andronicus - The Airing Of Grievances (2009)
(yes, it's named after Festivus)
Titus Andronicus is... well, I guess they're a punk band. But... I mean, not really. They're just cool. I definitely recommend checking them out if you like music that sounds like it's on fire... if that makes sense. It does to me.
Recommended Tracks: Fear And Loathing In Mahwah NJ, Arms Against Atrophy, Titus AndronicusGenres: Punk, Indie, Rock
Link: http://www.mediafire.com(SLASH)?1ozmzfnt4zb
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